Our Next SOLIDWORKS Super Hero is…

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I am exceptionally pleased to unmask the 6th Super User of SOLIDWORKS – and this is a first in our series – as you can probably tell by the intro graphic.

Say hello, everyone to: Betty Baker!

I had the opportunity to sit down (virtually) with Betty and chat as to how she got into all-things SOLIDWORKS as well as how she has taken what she has learned along the way of her long-time love of and parlayed that into a User Group Leader, teacher, mentor and inspiration to many young kids starting their life’s adventure with robotics, CAD and SOLIDWORKS.

Here are some interview topics we discussed:

  • Who are you and how do you use SOLIDWORKS in your work?

“ I’m a domestic casegoods product engineer, which means I engineer bedroom furniture that is produced domestically here in Arcadia, Wisconsin. So I am assigned a bedroom group, and I’m in charge of every aspect of that group from drawing it in SOLIDWORKS, setting up the bill of materials, doing a regulatory testing, I’m out there on the assembly line when the model is in production for the first time. So I basically have ownership of this entire group from conception until it’s eventually discontinued. And I work with many areas of the company. So I work with the design department, R&D, jigs and fixtures. We work with the automation, guys, purchasing, packaging, production, inventory, control, scheduling, fabrication, assembly, graphics design, all the way to customer service. So we basically work with every single department and we touch every aspect of the product basically.
 

  • What is your favorite SOLIDWORKS feature?

“ I have a couple of favorite things, I guess in SOLIDWORKS.  Of course, I like how quickly and easily I can copy something. And if it’s all mated correctly, I can easily make just a few changes and have a completely new model. So here at Ashley Furniture, we typically do not start from scratch with any item that we make. You start with a dresser and then do our design copy and make it a chest. So we can reuse as many parts as possible, just change the size a little bit. And then that we can always bring along the part and the drawing at the same time when we copy it. Saves us a lot of time from having to recreate all of the drawings from scratch, basically.

 And then I also like that there isn’t just one way to do things. There are multiple ways of doing things. And I’m constantly learning and finding new things. So I send out a weekly SOLIDWORKS tip. And the software is 25 years old, or I’ve been using it for 25, and there’s still something that I can learn and share each week. It amazes me when I get someone that has been using it for a long time – 20 plus years.

 

  • How is the SOLIDWORKS community like a family to you?

“ The SOLIDWORKS community is full of expert people. And I hate to name names because I know I’m gonna miss someone – but there are so many people that I’ve met over the years and look up to… And there’s also many user group leaders and committee reps; they’re constantly sharing ideas, giving presentations to anyone that needs help.  It’s like I talk to these people…on a weekly basis…So yeah, I do talk to some of these people more than I talk to my family. We are a family.

Log in to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform’s SOLIDWORKS News & Info community on 3DSwym to read or listen to the complete interview with the superstar Betty: here!

 

Matthew Hall

Matthew Hall is the SOLIDWORKS online communities manager and passionate 3DEXPERIENCE platform ambassador, listening to and leveraging the Voice Of The Users for continuous, transformational improvement. All his writings are human.